posted at 9:21 pm on June 8, 2012 by Allahpundit

The effort to recall Scott Walker failed, but exit polls show the president holding an edge in the state, which hasn’t voted Republican since 1984. It’s the weak job numbers from last week that has Democrats panicking. There’s a sense that the economy has stalled, and that the Obama campaign is stuck in a time warp with a message that assumes steady if slow progress, when the jobs picture may not get better.

“Our real concern is that they’re just sleepwalking,” says a Democratic strategist, who did not want to be quoted by name criticizing the Obama campaign. His fear, echoed by many, is that Obama’s responses to the dire economic conditions fall far short of the bold leadership needed.

The latest gimmick rolled out by the White House, a To-Do list aimed at Congress that fits on a Post-it note, is emblematic of what’s missing. “A To-Do list is for little things, like picking up the dry cleaning; you don’t put “schedule your son’s MRI” or “buy a new house” on the list,” says this frustrated Democrat.

***

Mitt Romney would collect at least 72 of the 110 electoral votes available in eight battleground states if President Barack Obama’s current polling numbers, as reported by The Huffington Post, are overstated by a mere one percent.

Romney would win that electoral majority in Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Wisconsin if there is a one percent undercount and if undecided voters there split evenly between Romney and Obama…

Some Democratic-leaning organizations are concerned that the polls may overstate Obama’s support. “This is going to be a very tough year to poll,” MSNBC host Chris Matthews said Wednesday

***

Senate Democratic leaders are politically paralyzed on how to proceed on the Bush-era tax rates.

With five months to go before the election, President Obama and key congressional Democrats remain at odds on whether the threshold for extending the George W. Bush-era rates for families should be $250,000 per year or $1 million annually. Obama backs the former while most Democratic leaders, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), support the higher threshold…

Democratic leaders maintain they are content to play defense, but are worried that some vulnerable Democrats might defect and support a temporary extension of all the Bush-era rates, which would undercut their negotiating position.

***

It’s a fascinating weakness of this presidency: Obama has no reliable surrogates. Joe Biden is the vice president, and 90 percent of his job description is to be a carnival barker for his boss. But, particularly since Biden forced the president’s hand on gay marriage, it’s apparently dawned on the White House that Biden is less than dependable as a wingman. Sure, he might begin a statement by saying, “This president saved us from another Great Depression.” But you never know if he’ll finish by adding, “My neighbor has three rabbits,” or, “These are not my pants.”

The president has tried to be his own surrogate, personally going on the attack against Romney. But all that does is remind voters that Obama doesn’t want to talk about his own record — and further diminishes his tattered bipartisan brand.

That’s probably one reason they tried out David Axelrod as an anti-Romney hatchet man in Boston the other week. But you know your audition as Obama pitch man hasn’t gone well when 90 percent of the media coverage boils down to either stories about how you were booed by Romney supporters, or stories about how everyone’s asking, “What meth-head thought Axelrod would be a good surrogate?”

***

Dominoes, anyone? The chips, indeed, are beginning to fall. They fell in Wisconsin, where Democrats failed to unseat Gov. Scott Walker in the recall election. Not incidentally, Obama was MIA in the run-up to the election. Might he have sensed that things would not go well for Democrats and thus decided to step out of the frame? When the going gets tough, the survivors vamoose.

All of which is to say, Obama has had a bad couple of weeks. Job numbers are still lousy, and the Supreme Court may soon drop a daisy cutter on the president’s signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

But the fact that Obama’s surrogates can’t stick to the script may be the best barometer of his perilous incumbency. In the political jungle, where people tend to be more Darwinian than divine, he is wounded and the pack is beginning to turn. Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, who could be a hockey mom if he wore lipstick, recently told CBS’s Charlie Rose that Hillary Clinton would have been a better president.

Yes, that is blood you smell.

***

It’s way too early to say who the next president will be. But even now, in June, we can already predict at least one outcome of November’s election: if Mitt Romney ends up winning the White House, he will have a better shot at success than many of his presidential predecessors — and he will have Barack Obama to thank for the leg up…

I’m not arguing Romney would automatically be a great president. Nor am I saying that Obama deserves credit for everything his potential successor could eventually accomplish. Mitt could, and presumably would, make some mistakes. All presidents do. And history is unpredictable: the forces that ultimately define or derail a presidency are impossible to identify in advance. My only point is that right now, Romney is on track, if elected, to enter the Oval Office with a stronger wind at his back than many of its previous occupants, including Obama.

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every now and again, Ace gets all a$$ed up over his commenters (many of whom have a language all their own). He expects them to behave, then they run rickshod over the blog saying just about anything they want. Recently, someone was posting “blind links” or “ghost links” what sounded to be invisible links that were a link to some site, malware, virus, other form of badness that PO’d Ace. He’s probably at the end of his rope and off his meds. This SWATting thing also has him quite pi$$ed.

I don’t buy the notion that he hates the job, which consists of (a) making speeches to adoring crowds and (b) relaxing from adulation overload on the golf course. It’s other people’s job description that he hates, and disregards. That’s why he doesn’t do it, and why he won’t go quietly.

You can be sure that if he loses in November he will be eaten up and spit out by the Clinton factions. It will be so complete that even the African-American supporters will change their view with rationalization that “well… he is only “half black” you know”

The latest gimmick rolled out by the White House, a To-Do list aimed at Congress that fits on a Post-it note, is emblematic of what’s missing. “A To-Do list is for little things, like picking up the dry cleaning; you don’t put “schedule your son’s MRI” or “buy a new house” on the list,” says this frustrated Democrat.

Drones strikes were first used by the Americans in 2004, but President George W. Bush was sparing with them. In five years, he authorised only 44 attacks. By the time Obama was into his third year in office, though, he had signed off on more than five times that number. *Dailymail*

He didn’t force the president’s hand. It was a grand scheme just before he went to bollywierd for his big fund raiser. They wanted it to look like the pres really didn’t want to come out with it now (a nod to the religious left in the dem population), but he wants the gay money. Do the gays realize that he supports the muslims and we all know what they do to gays. So enjoy for a while, gays, but know that you are on the chopping block!

The latest gimmick rolled out by the White House, a To-Do list aimed at Congress that fits on a Post-it note, is emblematic of what’s missing. “A To-Do list is for little things, like picking up the dry cleaning; you don’t put “schedule your son’s MRI” or “buy a new house” on the list,” says this frustrated Democrat.

Actually, there’s only item on the list: Make Me Look Good.

Boehner has offered to meet Obama halfway, to make Obama look “half-good.”

Serious discussion in the White House over which half need the make-over more.

Can’t happen. The racism that they have hung on us will now prevent them from doing the right thing. Throwing little Bammie out now will tear apart the democratic party. Throwing little Bammie out now will lose them black vote and start rioting in the streets. Little Bammie’s ego will not allow him to support such a plan. They would lose the election anyway.

Bill Clinton has realized that it is better to subtly sabotage little Bammie enough that Governor Romney wins, and the democratic party hangs together to fight another day.

slickwillie2001 on June 8, 2012 at 10:07 PM

I agree and furthermore, I think it would be bad news for us if Obama dropped out. Romney can beat Obama if he continues to perform well but he might have a harder time beating Hillary Clinton. She would do better than Obama because, for one thing, she wouldn’t be running on Obama’s dismal record like he has to do.

Hot Air Peeps, there is HOPE. An avowed liberal friend of mine has turned. He is calling me his Lady Madonna for helping him see the light. He is a very educated government worker to boot! When I first started pointing out the obvious about Obama and his ilk he got very angry with me. I gave him some info and asked him to do his own research. He was appalled and shocked at what he discoverd. Trust me, the tides are turning and people are waking up.

They should’ve known that when they offered him the job. Everyone else did. Biden has always loved the sound of his own voice. There was a joke when he was Senator: “The most dangerous place in DC is between Joe Biden and a TV camera.”

As we speak, Joe Biden is somewhere practicing his 2016 inaugural address. The only politician in America who makes Barack Obama seem humble.

Conservatives and Republicans: Do not be complacent about an arrogant and self-delusional President’s utterances, and the supposedly grand change in fortunes it provides us. A lot can and will change between now and November. There are a lot of uninterested voters who aren’t going to pay that much attention to the campaigning until summer, the NFL kickoff and Labor Day are behind us. One big mistake many of you seem to be making: the economy’s health, specifically the level of un-employment. Un-employment may actually rise when the economy heats up, i.e., coming out of a recession or slow growth periods (like, say 2009-2012!. ) Keep an eye on any accurate measure of unemployment which emphasizes the under-employed, productivity of the work force, numbers of actual job seekers, etc.

Hot Air Peeps, there is HOPE. An avowed liberal friend of mine has turned. He is calling me his Lady Madonna for helping him see the light. He is a very educated government worker to boot! When I first started pointing out the obvious about Obama and his ilk he got very angry with me. I gave him some info and asked him to do his own research. He was appalled and shocked at what he discoverd. Trust me, the tides are turning and people are waking up.

Winebabe on June 9, 2012 at 12:20 PM

My mother and step-father are both extremely liberal (my mother is a self-proclaimed Socialist and a state attorney for the Department of Environmental Protection in Florida). They are what I would consider more activist than the average bear though not to an enormous extent. They had the Obama picture in the living room, bumper stickers, full nine yards, but they are more principled liberals than Democrat apologists. My angle with them has been simply to show them how corporate the Obama administration is. All I have to do is say “Goldman Sachs” and I can’t get a word in edge-wise. I’ll never convince them to vote for Romney but I might yet persuade them to stay home on election day. Here’s to hope!

I’ll never convince them to vote for Romney but I might yet persuade them to stay home on election day. Here’s to hope!

stout77 on June 9, 2012 at 1:19 PM

Good work. One of Romney’s key selling points was always that he inspires absolutely no one… on either side. Can’t even imagine what kind of nonsense we’d be talking about today if Santorum, Gingrich or, god forbid, she who shall not be named was our candidate.

“Never knowing.
Shocking, but I’m nothing.
I’m just moments.
I’m clever, but I’m clueless.
I’m just human
Amusing, but confusing.
But, the truth is
All I’ve got is questions
I’ll never know.
Never know.
Never know.”